I could use a link but I've been told that the position description (PD) for Social Security's Administrative Law Judges (ALJs) has changed. The new PD emphasizes increased supervision and management by the Social Security Administration. There is a new emphasis on compliance with Social Security's procedures, regulations, rulings, and
policies and on timely processing of cases.
For those of you on the inside, what does this mean in practical terms? Has the agency explicitly told ALJs that their job has changed?
NOSSCR sent all sustaining members an e-mail over the weekend describing the change. Contact NOSSCR and I'm sure they can send it to you. While ALJ decision independence is retained, ALJs' authority to hold hearings and make and issue decisions are now "under the direction and supervision of the HOCALJ or HCCALJ."
ReplyDeleteThe powers-that-be seem proud of the fact that the ALJ allowance rate is at a 40-year low. They claim the drop in favorable decisions is due to "better policy compliance." I see this "position description" as another way to control the outlier ALJs who pay, in the agency's opinion, too many cases. The "policy compliance" is another way to say "pay less cases."
regardless of what the job description says, most ALJ's won't care and won't change.
ReplyDeleteMy best guess...this is just a way for the agency to be able to point at ALJ's and say, "you should have been paying more attention to those working for you" and an attempt to hold them more accountable for productivity
In reality, most will just continue to do the same...
1) marginally review records
2) hold hearings
3) write instructions that say UF or FF, but include no helpful information
4) sign decision
I'm a decision writer at SSA.
http://www.aalj.org./system/files/documents/pd_new.pdf
ReplyDeletehttp://www.aalj.org./system/files/documents/pd_track_changes.pdf
the new position description will become effective on December 29. It substantially erodes our judicial independence as it places the exercise of our APA decisional process under the supervision of the Agency. Thus, when the political party in power changes, or the Baltimore bureaucratic view of the disability adjudication process changes, great pressure will be placed on judges to conform their decisions to those views.
ReplyDeleteIndeed, it is the very avenue that SSA will use to pressure judges to decide cases
consistent with the bureaucratic policy of the day. The legislative history of the Administrative Procedure Act shows that the conduct of agencies at the time, which Congress sought to eliminate with the passage of the APA, is strikingly similar to that in which SSA now freely engages.
Oh give me a break with the intrusion on judicial independence nonsense. Manager his pd change was implemented to provide some teeth to get last judges to follow basic agency rules on doing their job. Nothing more. A detailed memo was submitted earlier this year with a list of requirements that all instructions must contain. I guarantee that 90% of the judges who don't use FIT just tossed that email straight in the delete bin.
ReplyDeleteNow you'll be held accountable..
@ 10:56 agreed. I saved the memo (i'm a writer) and have yet to receive any instruction that even remotely complies.
ReplyDeleteAdditionally, when I review the job description above, it seems like the supervision requirement is limited to the HOCALJ.
This isn't a change, more of a formal acknowledgement that the HOCALJ has already been doing these things.
To you writers: what do you think is causing the drop in ALJ allowance rate?
ReplyDeleteIt is a vast change. It sets the Judge up for annual evaluations just like the rank and file at ODAR. It defies the APA and will make ALJ's hearing officers. It will remove any independence the Judge now has in developing the record. If one looks at most of the management at ODAR, fro the Chief to Region, and local offices, most are newby yes people that have very little Agency or judicial experience. The mere fact that they approve this action shows that they don't have a clue about the responsibilities and duties of the ALJ. If this is allowed to last, I, for one, will resign from the position.
ReplyDeleteThe HOCALJ PD was also changed, w/no advance notice or request for input
ReplyDeleteso you're going to resign if you have to be subjected to annual performance evaluations? Well, good! There are many others willing to take your job.
ReplyDeleteShouldn't the SSA ALJs really be reclassified as hearing examiners anyway? Their work is vastly different from and much less complex than the kind of work that ALJs do in other federal agencies.
ReplyDeleteCan the PD change really be attributed to the political party currently holding office, when it hasn't even nominated Astrue's replacement yet?
Isn't this PD change being driven by the Astrue holdover - Sklar? And weren't over half the current SSA ALJs hired by Astrue/Sklar - thereby leaving a lasting legacy of their hand-picked SSA ALJs for years to come?
12:05
ReplyDeletePlease do resign. You sound like you have no idea about anything, and probably give crap instructions on poorly-reviewed records that writers have to scramble and fix for you.
You sound like one ALJ in my office--always complaining about this or that, saying on your walk to your office that you should just retire. Do us all a favor and put your money where your mouth is.
You would be amazed about what I know. I wouldn't be the first Judge to resign based upon integrity. I have to look in the mirror everyday and when the job stops being about the claimant and becomes jumping through hoops for the Agency, it is time to go. I review every record and know the case better than the Reps. The writers fight to get my decisions as I am told my instructions are the best in the office. Just rememberr, without the Judges, there is no use for attorneys in the office. The Agency can use hearing officers and paralegals for the decisions. What a waste of a law degree to do what a highschool graduate does and gets the same pay for.. Perhaps that is why you have such a pleasing personality??
ReplyDeleteODAR's first priority should be to improve the quality of written hearing decisions. But it sounds like they may be more interested in ensuring that the more meticulous and conscientious (but low-producing) ALJ's will fall in line with the "recommended" 500-700 case annual productivity goal.
ReplyDeleteAt the Appeals Council, the majority of hearing decisions we see are poorly written and poorly reasoned. Clearly, many decision writers and ALJ’s do not understand SSA disability rules and regs or medical concepts well enough to produce a sound decision. And of course they are under tremendous pressure to push cases through quickly, so they don’t have time to question their own prejudices and other weaknesses as analysts.
You would think that rule changes could be used to address the quality problems at the hearing office (in conjunction with additional training and more reasonable production goals). But given the SSA's single-minded focus on the volume of cases worked, I doubt that these rule changes are designed to improve quality.
As an attorney-rep for over 20 years, I can say that the focus on volume is troubling. Most of us would be more than happy to wait additional months for better reasoned and researched decisions. It appears to many reps I speak with that the medical records as well as the SSA rules, etc are being cherry picked to get to a pre-determined result.
ReplyDeleteI have seen nothing in the last 5-10 years to justify a reduction of around 50% in favorable decisions, as far as the quality of the cases that are filed are concerned. Since when did quantity override quality? I know that SSA is concerned with numbers, but my clients are not numbers.
"I review every record and know the case better than the Reps."
ReplyDeleteHahahaha. Oh boy, that's rich. Is knowing the record better than the rep supposed to make us believe you know the record well? Saying you know the record better than the reps often means you've bothered to take even a cursory glance at the file...
Lots of decision writers are poor. Blame that on the agency caving to AFGE on hiring so many "paralegals" to do the same job a licensed attorney does for the same pay. Part of that blame still lays squarely on the ALJs--poor rationale, poorly-articulated rationale, and failure to edit properly. Whine all you want to about quotas, etc.--at the end of the day, it's your signature and your decision. You think your State Bar would give much weight to "but I was really busy and couldn't review all the actions of that new attorney/staff person/law clerk in my firm I am tasked to supervise?" Why all of a sudden as a lawyer and Administrative Law Judge do you think you get a pass on the quality of work with your signature on it?
Give me a break.
As a paralegal who has read hundreds of transcripts of SSA hearing proceedings, I am shocked at the pathetic behavior many of the ALJ's get away with. I can only assume that many of them are angry little people who's life just didn't turn out like they wanted so they are going to kick disability applicants to make themselves feel better - sad!
ReplyDelete